Search - Renaud :: Boucan D'Enfer

Fabulous French songs about life, death and love

05/29/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I love this CD. I bought it when I was in France during the week that we went to war with Iraq, and the songs now seem like a soundtrack to the many protests and marches that I saw and occasionally became swept up in. No singer/songwriter in the U.S. has written a song about 9-11 like "Manhattan-Kaboul," which describes the similarities between a Puerto-Rican man who died in the Twin Towers, and an Afghani girl who died in her bombed-out village in Afghanistan. Other songs focus on Renaud's battle with his dark side (Doctor Renaud, Mr. Renard), his daughter's coming of age (Elle a vu le loup), and even his dog (Baltique). This CD is especially valuable for students of French who want to pick up some expressions in Parisian street slang. I'm not familiar with Renaud's earlier work, but this CD holds its own."